AN UNEXPECTED TREAT

"Wanna go kayaking in about ten minutes?" asked sweet hubby early Saturday afternoon. "We'll need to be back in time for the NC State/Duke basketball game." Kayaking is one of my favorite things to do. Ron knows that.

I looked at the trees swaying slightly in the wind, glanced at my watch. We had an hour and a half to kayak and photograph the wildlife. I hugged him, switched the normal lens in my Canon camera for "Big Boy," and headed for the dock. We paddled in and out of coves before I saw Eagle flying above Ron. I hollered, picked up my camera. By the time I started shooting, Eagle had landed 40 feet up in a pine tree. Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge.
 

I couldn't believe my good luck! On this day I had only one and a half hours to do two of my very favorite things--kayak, which I've already mentioned, and photograph wildlife. And here, in a tree high above me, was a Bald Eagle.

I snapped pictures, stopped, paddled back against the wind and current, snapped again. I did this at least a dozen times. In all, I took 200 pictures. Thank goodness for digital cameras! Ron made noise in hopes that Eagle would fly and I could catch him in flight, but Eagle stayed on his branch.

This is the best close up I could get using "Big Boy" with my kayak rocking in the choppy water. We checked the time, paddled furiously against the wind to get home in time to watch the game.

Sunday afternoon, as I sat on the couch watching the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game between Duke and UVA, I saw Eagle fly across the lake. I hope that means he has a nest in our area, that we'll see a mate soon.